Homecoming
by NeverMagpie
Summary: Logan and Gambit are captured by Sinister..Some random Scalphunter and Remy friendship fluff...Mainly a Gambit and the marauders story.
1. By the Prickling of My Thumbs

Notes: This is just a random piece, I'm not sure if it will go anywhere or not and it, like all my fics is liable for spontaneous rewriting :P Enjoy anyway, i appreciate all feedback, even flames. Ish...

Wolverine opened his eyes groggily and stared around the room. Computers… important sciency looking stuff… Shit. He remembered now, they had been fighting Sinister. That would explain the operating table he was strapped to. Obviously, something had gone wrong… He searched for the memory but his mind came up blank. He had no idea how he had gotten here except for a general assumption that Essex was involved. Turning his head the other way he saw Gambit lying limply on another table. He looked around for more X-Men but found the lab deserted except for the two of them. That wasn't too helpful, as Sinister could be holding the others anywhere, but he would have to assume they were all right for now.

"Hey Cajun, wake up." He growled softly. He received a slight groan in response and with a lot of effort Gambit managed to raise his head to look at him, his red on black eyes squinting in the bright light of the lab.

"Wolverine? Dat you?" He winced. "Dis Cajun don' feel so good…" At this point Gambit managed to look around the lab and obviously came to the same conclusion as Logan. "Sinister." he said resignedly, more used to being strapped down on operating tables then was healthy. "You 'member how we got here?" He gave as much of a shrug as you can give with your arms in restraints and his trademark grin. "De last t'ing Gambit 'member is someone yelling and den…. not'ing." He wrinkled his forehead in concentration but eventually seemed to give up "You?"

Wolverine's answer was forestalled by a hiss as the hydraulic doors opened and Essex himself stepped in. "Ahh, I see your both awake, good." He walked over to Remy, who had tensed upon his arrival and was now studiously avoiding looking at him, and began examining the monitor near him "How long has it been this time Remy?"

"3 years, 2 months an' 7 days.' Remy said resignedly, not even bothering to look up.

"A new record?" Sinister asked as he typed something in.

"Oui." Remy said in the same tired, flat tone.

"Over 3 years since I last got to examine you…. Let's see how your powers are progressing, shall we? " Sinister began bustling about reading data from the many monitors and machines hooked up to gambit, typing commands every once and a while. "Hmmm..." he muttered, frowning slightly. "What have you been doing now?" He muttered angrily. He quickly typed something into his monitors and one of the machines hooked up to gambits arm began whirring. Gambit bit back a cry of pain.

"Hey!" He hissed in outrage, "I won Essex, I get painkillers 'fore you do that." Sinister seemed unconcerned.

"Well, this wouldn't have hurt you if you hadn't been messing with your powers now would it have? I can't be responsible for pain you deserve." Sinister said mildly, going back to typing. Gambit narrowed his eyes.

"You not honoring our bet Essex?"

"Calm down my boy, I enjoy the interesting affects of our little wager on your psychology far too much for that. I know the terms. If you are out of my clutches for a record amount of time, when you finally return to me you are entitled to a handful of basic things. You receive painkillers and sedatives before any painful operations or tests, regular meals as long as they don't interfere with my research, the right to clothes as long as it doesn't interfere with my research, and a short outing every day as long as it doesn't interfere with my research. I have not forgotten our bet Remy." He said seriously, looking at Remy for the first time, with a look that was almost fondness in his eyes. "Be quiet now I need to monitor your breathing" he turned back to pushing buttons, ignoring Gambit, who glared balefully at him but was silent. Wolverine was watching this with interest and a small part of him wanted to laugh at the sheer craziness of it. Another, shrewder part was reanalyzing what he knew of the Cajun in regards to Sinister, and he frowned slightly. He was silent for now, figuring he could pound the kid for answers later, when sinister invariably threw them in a small cell that inhibited their powers. Sometimes he wondered if accepting things like this as routine was a good thing, but he wasn't really one for deep thoughts on that subject.

In a different part of the complex:

Arclight rolled her eyes at Scalphunter. "You're like a little kid that's getting a puppy, stop bouncing." Scalphunter, who had not in the least been bouncing, maybe grinning a little, but not bouncing, glared at her.

"I can be a little happy." He said, trying to get back his macho pride. "Remy's back.'

"He's not going to join the marauders. He'll be here for a few months until Sinister decides he's done playing and then he'll escape again and not come back for even longer. Why does it matter that he's back?" Philippa pointed out flatly.

Scalphunter was spared a response by Vertigo yanking the door open and flouncing into his room "Boss wants to see you" she said as innocently as she could despite her obvious enjoyment of his and Arclight's state of undress.

'Ever heard of knocking" Gray Crow groused as he rolled off the bed he had been sharing with Arclight and grabbed some clothes from the floor. He debated doing something nasty to Vertigo but decided to put it off until later since the boss probably wanted to see him about Gambit.

"I thought it was important." Vertigo said, the picture of wide eyed innocence. Even Arclight seemed to have found it funny today, although with her mood swings there was as much chance of her grievously harming Vertigo as laughing along. Vertigo appeared to be lucky today though, he thought as he growled and pushed past the two laughing women.

He muttered angrily about them as he stomped through the halls, but soon forgot about them as his thoughts returned to Remy. When he got to the main lab, he saw Remy passed out on an operating table, with Wolverine, the short vicious X-Man in the same state near him. Sinister looked up at him and nodded, saying, "Drop these two in a cell. The feral won't be awake for quite a while after what I gave him, but I don't want either escaping Gray Crow." He motioned with his hand and Scalphunter quickly unclamped the heavy, adamantium-laced form of Logan from the table, pulling out the many wires carefully, and half-dragged half-carried the X-Man to a nearby cell. He dumped the body into a back corner and went back to the lab. Essex didn't even look up from his work as Gray Crow entered and gently unlocked the clamps holding Gambit down. He pushed a little of Gambit's long auburn hair out of his face gently and scooped him up. He felt him stirring as he carried him to the cell and tightened his grip slightly. Once in the cell he propped gambit against the wall in as comfortable a position as he could find in the bare metal room and turned to go.

"Gray?" Gambit muttered sleepily.

"Rems?" He asked, quietly bending down beside the lanky Cajun. "You ok?"

"Gambit feels like he been run over by a truck." He whinged in a pathetic voice he knew would make Scalphunter laugh. Scalphunter ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Your own fault Rems." He smiled at the Cajun's expression of outrage.

"My fault? My fault?" Gray crow placed a hand over Gambit's mouth and looked at him, a teasing grin on his face.

"Yes. Now be quiet or you'll wake up your angry little feral friend in the corner."

Gambit raised his head, still weak from whatever sedatives Essex had been pumping into his blood stream and glanced at corner. "Merde, is that Logan?" he muttered. Apparently, the little bit of movement pained him as he clutched at his head and moaned.

Scalphunter smiled and said "Go to bed Rems, we'll catch up later" he rose silently and left, locking the cell door behind him. Remy nodded sleepily at his friends retreating back and then, as if lying down was too much effort, simply keeled over from where he had been leaning against the wall and began snoring gently.


	2. Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

Notes: Thanks to all the people who reviewed  You guys are awesome. I might even be brave enough to post more stuff now. I'll try to continue this, but I don't have a lot of plan so there might be big breaks between updates, sorry, but I promise I'm trying :P Anyways…Don't know why all my chapters start with Wolverine waking up…. But just go with it :P …Here is chapter 2 anyways, enjoy:

Wolverine woke up groggily. His breathing and posture didn't change and to an observer there would be no difference between a second ago when he had been asleep. But now he was awake, completely and totally ready to attack at the slightest provocation. He let his senses roam the room, testing for danger. The first thing he noticed was the uncomfortable position he was in, as if someone had tossed him into a corner. That was probably what had happened now that he thought about it. His cheek, which was touching the smooth metal of the cell was freezing and probably stuck to the shiny surface. Once he had sensed to the best of his abilities that there was no immediate threat he sat up. Yep, he was right, he grumbled as his check came unstuck. Who builds cells out of this stuff anyway? He groaned slightly. He hated inhibiter cells. His healing factor usually made it so that he didn't feel the aches and pains when he woke up. Not so today. He glanced around the room and saw the Cajun slumped against the far wall, a slight trickle of drool near him. He started to laugh. It was unusual to see the suave Gambit loose his cool, and he could just picture the Cajun's face if he noticed he had been drooling.

Gambit muttered to himself in his sleep. Logan cursed that he no longer had his acute hearing; he would be very interested to know what Gumbo was dreaming about, if not for blackmail purposes than at least for the sheer entertainment value of it. "Hey kid." He called "wake up. You and me have to have a little talk." Gambit only muttered slightly louder and Logan was almost sure he had picked up the word "Jean" this time. He quickly debated letting the Cajun sleep so he could hear more but in the end survival won over entertainment (although admittedly it was close). "Gambit." He said firmly, nudging the Cajun with his boot and finally Gambit began to wake up.

"Logan? You _def'nitly_ not part of my dream. Gambit must be awake den, Non?" He sighed and sat up. "Wassup mon ami?" He said with faked cheer.

"I think you know exactly what's up Gumbo. I need some answers. Now." Gambit gave a mock sigh and a guileless smile, opening his hands out wide in a gesture that screamed innocence. Wolverine did not buy it for a minute, and simply glared at the Cajun. Gambit finally dropped his pose and looked up at the ceiling, as if considering his words.

"Not much to tell, eh mon ami? Gambit seems to spend a lot of time in de lab. Well, not dis particular lab, but dey all de same, oui? Don' know if dat be against de law. From what I hear dat somet'ing you yourself been doing quite a lot Wolverine. I was… working for Essex a while back, after I left de Guilds. He took a shine to dis Ol' Cajun I suppose. He made me an offer I couldn' refuse. Didn' know what I was getting into at de time. T'ings went bad, I got out. Is de past, neh?" Wolverine merely stared at him for a second.

"And you didn't think it was important for the X-Men to know that?" He said slowly, soaking up the information incredulously. Gambit gave a disarming grin.

"Need to know basis mon ami, ain't none o' de X-Men's business but mine."

"Gumbo, are you expecting me to believe that you just figured we didn't want to know?"

"Oui." Was Gambit's succinct reply. It was accompanied by another charming grin, but his eyes were flat and there was a hint of challenge in his expression.

Wolverine appraised him for a minute. Finally, he simply nodded. "That's not the whole story Gumbo, but you've never done wrong by the team yet. We all have pasts, including me. I'm trusting you for now, don't make me regret it." Gambit looked back at him and nodded, a hint of a real smile flickering on his handsome lips. He almost looked… grateful.

"Dat means a lot, Wolverine. But we done wit' dis? 'Cause personally, Gambit want's to be out o' here. Any plans?" The two spent the next half hour examining the cell professionally and methodically, looking for any weakness to exploit. By the end, they were both feeling a little hopeless. "Looks like we stuck here den. Don' worry, der hasn't been a prison that can hold dis here t'ief yet." He flashed his grin and Logan rolled his eyes.

"The Cajun charm isn't really my thing Gumbo, so stop grinning at me like that."

"Ah, Logan, ya wound me." The handsome Acadian grinned again and went back to trying to open the door, which, without a knob or hinges, was proving tricky for even a Master Thief such as himself. He glared at the door and sighed in frustration. Logan rolled his eyes and sat down against the wall, closing his eyes in a sigh.

Suddenly the door was shoved open. Remy jumped back, immediately in fighting stance, the lack of weapons not a problem. Logan was next to him immediately and the two glared at the door where Riptide and Blockbuster stood. Riptide was holding a complicated looking gun which he began firing at Logan. The X-Men moved lightning fast but Blockbuster just snorted. Logan looked down and noticed the multitude of tranquilizer darts sticking out of various parts of his body. "Your right, that was fun. Hey Cajun, long time no see." Riptide drawled. Gambit's eyes narrowed but he was silent. "What? No witty comebacks today? Don't want to be seen with us in front of your prissy new hero buddies? I'm hurt." Wolverine suddenly lost the fight to remain conscious and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed on the floor for the second time that day.

Riptide covered Gambit with the tranquilizer gun as Blockbuster moved to pick up Logan. Gambit dived out of range of the gun, landing a flying kick on blockbusters shin followed by a swift jab at the neck, using Blockbusters massive form as a shield from the tranquilizers. Blockbuster grunted in pain and reached out, grabbing Gambit's arm and twisting it. Gambit grunted in turn and was quickly forced to his knees. "That was pointless." He said, kicking Gambit across the cell and scooping up Logan's heavy body. He backed out of the cell as the Cajun rose unsteadily to his feet.

"Better luck next time." Riptide said flippantly, slamming the door as Remy jumped toward it. Remy collapsed against it panting hard and wincing in pain. He had landed on his injured arm. "Dat was stupid Remy." he muttered. What had he been thinking? He had just seen them and reacted. His fighting style was messy and random, his unearthly agility working at merely a fraction of its normal capacity; he had fought sloppy and paid for it. What was he trying to accomplish anyway? Protect Logan? Yeah right.

He hated being back here. Not just for the fact that he was now a glorified lab rat, subjected to demeaning and painful experiments, or even the sheer futility and helplessness of being a prisoner again, loosing his independence again. He hated it because it brought his long buried emotions to the surface. Emotions were bad. Emotions meant life was more than just a game. And then you've lost your edge. He had reacted on emotion when he saw the marauders and fought as such. He cringed at the memory again. At least wolverine hadn't seen him lashing out like that. It would be hard to explain just what the hell has happened to his fighting skill.

He hated being back in the labs. But most of all, he hated the fear that maybe the labs were where he belonged. That he wasn't fooling anyone and should stop playing hero. The labs made him reevaluate himself and he was never sure he wanted to look to closely at himself anyway. He hated the possibility that he wasn't really an X-Man and never would be. That the only one he was fooling was himself and maybe it was time to grow up and face who he was. He hated that. So he sat against the door in a shiny metallic cell, staring at his feet with his demon eyes burning, disheveled hair falling across his face, and brooded silently. Because sometimes that's all there is to do.


	3. Full of Scorpions is My Head

Notes: oops, yeah… disclaimer… I don't own stuff. If I did, Marvel would definitely not be phasing Gambit out right now…

Anyways, Sorry this took so long but I had to actually come up with a plot and outline the next few chapters before I could just start posting random stuff so hopefully updates will be faster from now on. Hopefully….

This chapter is basically pointless fluff…. But I like Scalphunter. And I like Remy. And it's my story…. :P Oh, by the way, I've decided to set this somewhere between Seattle and Rogue coming back with Joseph, it's still completely AU, but just as a general, that's where Gambit is emotionally (post-Antarctica) and who the team is etc..

Gambit got up from where he had been sitting on the floor of a cell. Outside the cell, he could hear a familiar tread of heavy booted feet and he smiled slightly. He checked himself almost automatically and simply watched quietly as the door slid open and Gray Crow stepped into the small cell. Gray Crow simply nodded at the standing Remy.

"Hey Rems. Long time no see." This was not the night. Remy was not woozy and reaching out for human touch. It was (in the way that a subterranean super villain's base is ever anything) daytime now. And in the light of the day, the gentle gestures of the night before were replaced with a tired wariness. Both were nervous, fearing that this time it was too much, that the battered and betrayed friendship couldn't meet this newest test. Few words could be said. There was a moment of quiet as both appraised each other. Remy broke the silence, looking Gray Crow in the eye he summoned the courage to smile slightly.

"Hey Gray, you miss me?" Gray Crow chuckled softly and the tension eased.

"Not likely Swamp Rat." Remy grinned at that and there was a companionable silence as they moved to sit next to each other on the floor.

"How's Arclight?" Remy asked, turning towards Scalphunter with a leer on his face. Scalphunter playfully swatted at his head.

"Is that jealousy I hear ?" Scalphunter grinned, "'cause it should be. My girl is… wow."

"Oui?" Gambit perked up interestedly, laughing a little. This was familiar territory. The two talked about the various attributes of Arclight compared to the other women they'd known for a while, gradually relaxing until they were barely aware that they were sitting on the floor of a jail cell, focusing only on each other.

"And what about you? Don't tell me the notorious womanizer Remy Lebeau is without a girlfriend?" Scalphunter said lightly. Remy's gaze darkened slightly and he looked away.

"Is hard t' believe, neh? But 'pparently she got other plans." He sighed, looking to the side and seeing something other than the wall of the cell. "T'ought I had it Gray, really, dis girl had Gambit wrapped round her lil' finger. Woulda died for de Chere." He laughed softly and not a little bitterly at that. "She's gone now. Sucked up somet'ing from Remy's head she didn' like and took off. I t'ink…" He paused and looked at Scalphunter again. "I t'ink de Chere got my memories from Seattle. Dat's where I caught up wit' her finally. I don' t'ink she's coming back." Gray Crow let out a breath. He was one of the privileged few who knew about Seattle. It wasn't pretty.

"Damn Rems." He said succinctly, commiserating as best he could. It was a good thing Philippa's past was as spotted, if not more so, than his own. Remy wasn't good at relationships. He either kept people at arm's length or gave himself completely, as he had with Scalphunter. Gray Crow had had no idea Remy would still consider him a friend at all after… what happened. Nevertheless, Remy had come back. Again and again. This girl was an idiot if she could see into his head and not see him for what he was. The Cajun looked at him and gave a tired grin.

"Se la vie, Gray, se la vie." Scalphunter chose to change the subject at this point, touchy feely being a little beyond him.

"So I heard you exploded at Baer earlier." Scalphunter started. He remembered Riptide's description of the Cajun's brief fight and laughed a little.

"I dunno wat' dat' was." Gambit seemed embarrassed. "I just kinda lost it dere for a sec. Dis place... whatever place dis current lab is..." A grin that had the intended effect, Scalphunter laughed at the Cajun's blatantly obvious information prod. "It get's to me, neh?" Gambit returned to the serious subject. "I… I dunno who I am sometimes in dis place." Scalphunter looked at the sad expression on his Remy's face, reading the self-doubt. Remy's eyes searched his pleadingly.

"It's ok Rems, I know." He said softly, returning the look. They sat like that for a second, happy to have someone who understood, who knew what it was like to live their lives. Happy to be able to trust someone completely, albeit in their own way. They moved so they were barely inches apart and simply sat. The silence was soothing and they both felt themselves letting their guard completely down for the first time in 3 years, 2 months and 7 days. Gambit sighed and leaned into Gray Crow. Scalphunter was at first surprised, but knowing the Cajun's addiction to human contact he let it go. In truth, he enjoyed it as much as Remy.

"Missed you Gray." Remy said softly. Gray Crow ruffled his hair gently.

"Missed you to Rems." Suddenly the door opened and Logan was pushed into their room. Scalphunter and Gambit both jumped up as if stung, neither having noticed footsteps outside the room. The peace was broken. Logan gave them a look. Remy quickly regained his cool and just shrugged, letting the looks slide off him, knowing he would have to answer later but not giving any ground he wasn't forced to gove. Gray Crow was less smooth. "See you Rems, we get an outing tomorrow." He said as lightly as he could, but anyone could tell he wasn't happy at the embarrassment of being caught practically hugging someone in front of his teammate and a prisoner. He followed Vertigo who was simply standing there, one immaculate eyebrow raised in an "I'm not even going to ask" expression, out of the door.

Gambit smiled at his retreating back and nodded nonchalantly to Wolverine, who simply looked at him. Gambit only grinned wider. Finally, Wolverine snorted and looked away. This was not the same Cajun on the verge of loosing it he had seen earlier. This Gambit was perfectly in control and back to his smooth-talking self, Wolverine could tell by the visible relaxation of his muscles and even his stance. Gambit always looked nonchalant, but this time it seemed… realer. Wolverine wished he had his increased senses so he could tell what emotions Gambit was letting out, but with the return to the cell, his senses had diminished again. He wondered what had brought back Gambit's confidence. The marauder? What the hell was the kid's connection to the cold-blooded murderers that sitting there hugging them made him feel relaxed? He gave up reasoning it out. The kid would explain eventually, or he would find out on his own.

"Wanna play cards, mon ami?" Gambit smiled at him lightly and proffered a deck of shabby cards, expertly sliding them through his fingers nimble fingers.

"Where the hell did you get those Gumbo?" Wolverine asked in surprise. Gambit winked at him.

"Gambit always has cards." He said glibly, and not looking up began to deal for a game of 21. Gray Crow had brought them in his pocket for Gambit to pick. As long as Gambit kept a low profile, he doubted Essex would care, and of course, Gambit would, not wanting to get his friend in trouble. Wolverine sat down across from Gambit, temporarily taken off guard and willing just to go with it. Besides, he was bored. Cells, no matter how much you got used to them, weren't all that much fun.


	4. Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair

Notes: Hey, thanks everybody that reviewed : ) Reviews make my day. Sorry, this took so long, I actually had writing done… it was my internet that was full of evil this time. And don't worry BJ, I could never make Logan a jerk, even when I'm mad at him, he always turns out decent in anything I write :P It's kind of annoying, like how even if I'm not mad at Rogue she always turns out like a self-absorbed brat…. Coincidence? I think not… anyways: On with the story. I think this is the longest chapter yet, and what's that? Actual plot somewhere? Don't worry, not really….. :P

"Vertigo is cheating" Prism stated mournfully, glaring at his poker hand in disgust and then back at a prim looking Vertigo. "I keep getting dizzy whenever it's my turn." She simply raised one beautiful eyebrow and treated him to a look.

"Maybe it's the bourbon? If I was going to cheat, I doubt I'd waste my time on you." She sniffed. The air of indifference was broken as she grinned. Prism merely gave her a hard look before going back to glaring malevolently at his poker cards and muttering.

"Gambit t'ink maybe you no playing so good because you keep glaring at de cards. It's called a poker face Mon ami." The Cajun was sprawled in a chair across the table from the pair, watching the exchange with amused interest from across his large pile of winnings.

"Harpoon thinks Gambit should shut up and play." Harpoon growled. Gambit gave him a lazy grin.

"You're not still mad at Gambit for winning all dose rounds are you?" The Cajun said in mock hurt. Harpoon growled.

"Who decided it would be fun to play cards with someone named Gambit? That's what I want to know." Gambit smiled and leaned back as the general insults and heated comments of the marauders raged on. It was just like old times. Well, minus the inhibitor collar around his neck that was gently beeping, and the fact that if he tried to leave the room they would attack him. Still, this was much more fun then poker with the X-Geeks, most of whom had no idea how to play or interest in learning. Logan was fun to beat… He sat up a little guiltily at that thought. Logan was in a cell by himself somewhere in the base now. He was probably not happy. And here Gambit the X-Man was playing poker and drinking bourbon with the enemy (the bourbon had been at his insistence; he was tired of Grey Crow's nasty beer). He sighed. Nothing he could do about it now.

He raised his head and looked at the game. Prism and Scrambler were glaring at each other over something that must have happened while he was thinking, and Vertigo was looking extremely pleased with herself. He made a mental note to watch her. He looked at his cards and allowed a small frown to grow on his face. He noticed the others surreptitiously watching him and to confuse them more, bet high. They would either assume he had good cards and was trying to fool them with the frown, or that he was trying to bluff the round on his low hand. They all watched him carefully throughout the round, as they did every other round, but could not figure out how he consistently won. He grinned at them, loving their confusion.

"Anyone for anot'er round?" He smiled as the marauders glared at him. "Awww, it's not Gambit's fault you haven't been practicing while he was away." He grinned at them as he scooped his assorted loot into his pockets. Not that he could do anything with the money, but it was still nice to win. Thank God for the bet with Sinister that let him keep his beloved trench coat. He looked over to the other side of the room where Scalphunter and Arclight were passionately making-out and raised his eyebrow. Switching tack, he asked, "Are dey always like dis?" Letting incredulity slip into his tone. To which Vertigo, unashamed gossip of the Marauders jumped into the conversation with gusto.

"Allll the time." She rolled her eyes. "Everywhere. It's gotten so we don't use most of the sofas here anymore because were afraid of what they've done on them." Gambit winced in sympathy as the rest of the Marauders scrambled to add their two cents. Gambit grinned as Scalphunter and Arclight separated and made their way over to the group.

"Something funny Cajun?" Arclight said, her heavily muscled form looming in front of him. Remy grinned, practically oozing charm.

"You t'ink Gambit would make fun o' a beautiful femme like you? Chere you wound me wit' da t'ought. Gambit was just remarking on how happy he is fo' you and Gray Crow" he quickly pacified, giving a dazzling grin. Arclight gave him a little glare and looked like she was about to say more when Gray Crow came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her (cautiously, as people who kill for a living don't generally enjoy being sneaked up on, especially not Philippa). He kissed her neck passionately and she relaxed into him. Gambit turned away and gave a small genuine smile at this. Vertigo, who was watching this with interest gave a little, ladylike snort at his expression, although she to had been smiling slightly.

The hydraulic door to the common room suddenly opened and Riptide came in. "Mission" he said, tossing a folder onto the poker table and sitting down in a vacant chair. He noticed Gambit and gave a slight frown. "You'll have to get rid of him before you open it, Boss doesn't want him seeing anything. He should have been back in a cell an hour ago." Gray Crow rolled his eyes.

"Calm down Riptide, were just going back now." He moved away from Arclight and Gambit stretched lazily and stood up.

"'ello to you to." He said, laughing a little but looking straight at Riptide, who merely rolled his eyes in annoyance. He had no idea why the Cajun was given all these privileges. He was an X-Man far crying out loud, and he wasn't even in a cell. And nobody really seemed to mind. Oh, at first they had all been annoyed at the Cajun, glaring at him and making snide comments, but somehow, in the two weeks the Cajun had been there, they seemed to have forgotten why they were even mad at him. He doubted a single one of them had thought about Gambit's prisoner status during the poker game. The damn Cajun was working his charm on them all. Gambit gave a lazy salute to the others as he accompanied Scalphunter out of the common room. Once outside Gray Crow carefully blindfolded him and the two walked back through the warren of corridors to the cell where Logan was waiting. The blindfold was more of a formality than anything else, as it had taken Gambit one walk to memorize all the necessary turns to get to the common room, as both knew, but the formalities had to be kept up.

The two finally reached the door and Scalphunter tugged the blindfold off, giving Remy's hair a ruffle as he did. Remy ducked out of the way teasingly, looking affronted. Scalphunter opened the door using a complicated scanning machine and a code he did not let Remy see and gently prodded Remy inside. He unlocked Remy's collar when he was completely blocking the door to the cell and pocketed both key and collar. "Be seeing ya, Cajun." He said and turned to exit as the door closed.

Wolverine sat, watching all this. "Back kid?" He growled, not bothering to get up. Gambit had the grace to duck his head in an ashamed manner. Wolverine sighed; yelling at Remy didn't solve anything. The kid was having just a hard time of this as he was. It had been shocking for Logan to see the marauders treating the kid so fondly, as if they genuinely cared about him. He wasn't unused to seeing villains as real people, lot's of the villains he knew were decent people, and lot's of the decent people he knew were villains. But the marauders were ruthless killers. He had seen the Morlock Massacre; he had been there and witnessed everything that happened and the aftermath. How could the people responsible for that be fond of anyone, let alone Remy? Despite all he was learning from the Cajun's cagy but seemingly truthful answers to his questions or the conversations he had witnessed between Gambit and their captors he found the entire situation still made very little sense.

The War Room:

"They've been gone for two weeks!" Cyclops cringed at Storm's angry, almost high-pitched yell. Jean placed a soothing hand on his arm and ebgan to speak in a calm, measured tone.

"We are very aware of that Storm, and we are doing everything in our power to find out where they are. Both of them are hard to find on Cerebro as it is and Sinister's base is going to be telepathically shielded. We'll get them back." Storm was unimpressed by Jean's words and told her so, storming out of the War Room.

"It seems our friend is a little overwrought." Beast supplied in the silence echoing her departure. "Perhaps if we simply went to Sinister's old bases and looked the old fashioned way?" He gave a small frown. "I believe we all worry about our noble comrades while they are in our most sinister of foe's clutches." Scott sighed.

"All right, we'll start with that. We're all very worried at this point. Hank, see if you can calm Storm down and meet us at the blackboard in 20 minutes. Bobby, could you print out a list of all Sinister's old bases? Jean, keep scanning for a few minutes than meet us in the blackbird. Everyone else, get suited up and ready to go. We are getting out teammates back." The team wandered off to prepare for battle and Scott sighed. Making sure they were alone, he turned to Jean and asked "Was that an ok speech Honey?" Jean smiled at him.

"That was very good Scott, much less corny then most of them. I'm sure the team was impressed." Scott beamed. Then, remembering what was going on, gave Jean a quick kiss on the check before he left to make his own preparations.


End file.
